August 31, 2006 - Psalms 132-134 and I Corinthians 11:17-34
God is so completely faithful. He always keeps His covenants and promises. The problem is that we don't keep our part of the covenant, and we don't keep our promises or vows to Him. I hope we will see how important it is for us to be faithful to the Lord, no matter what happens.
Psalm 132 is a psalm praising David and his desire to build a house for the Lord, which we call the Temple. Of course, Solomon ended up building it, but it came from David's heart. In the process God made the promise that David's family would sit on the throne as long as they were faithful to Him. (v.12) They were faithful for a while, and then, they departed from the Lord, so God had to punish them with Exile into Babylon. However, God still kept His promise by sending Jesus as a descendant of David. He will rule from Jerusalem to fulfill God's part of the covenant. Isn't that remarkable that God kept the covenant, even though the kings were unfaithful? I think it is. The important thing for us to consider is what would have happened if the kings of Israel and Judah had been faithful to God. How would history have been different? In our lives God has been so faithful, too. How would our lives had been different, if we would have been completely faithful to Him. One good thing is that we can start being faithful now, and see the change in the rest of our lives.
Psalm 133 reminds us of the beauty of unity among believers. It is a joy to the Lord and to us, when we live in unity. Then, Psalm 134 seems to point to people who are faithful to worship the Lord even when it is not convenient. They went to the Temple, even in the dark of night. They were so ready to worship God. That is a great statement of how their hearts were right with God. Are you living in unity with other believers? Is your heart set on worship all of the time?
Then, in I Corinthians 11 we have another admonition to live in unity. This admonition is given in the context of problems with observing the Lord's Supper, but the point is that they were being selfish and not thinking of the meaning or of each other. We must strive to love each other in actions, not just in words. We must worship the Lord in sincere love for Him and for each other for Him to be pleased with our worship.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 135-136 and I Corinthians 12.
Psalm 132 is a psalm praising David and his desire to build a house for the Lord, which we call the Temple. Of course, Solomon ended up building it, but it came from David's heart. In the process God made the promise that David's family would sit on the throne as long as they were faithful to Him. (v.12) They were faithful for a while, and then, they departed from the Lord, so God had to punish them with Exile into Babylon. However, God still kept His promise by sending Jesus as a descendant of David. He will rule from Jerusalem to fulfill God's part of the covenant. Isn't that remarkable that God kept the covenant, even though the kings were unfaithful? I think it is. The important thing for us to consider is what would have happened if the kings of Israel and Judah had been faithful to God. How would history have been different? In our lives God has been so faithful, too. How would our lives had been different, if we would have been completely faithful to Him. One good thing is that we can start being faithful now, and see the change in the rest of our lives.
Psalm 133 reminds us of the beauty of unity among believers. It is a joy to the Lord and to us, when we live in unity. Then, Psalm 134 seems to point to people who are faithful to worship the Lord even when it is not convenient. They went to the Temple, even in the dark of night. They were so ready to worship God. That is a great statement of how their hearts were right with God. Are you living in unity with other believers? Is your heart set on worship all of the time?
Then, in I Corinthians 11 we have another admonition to live in unity. This admonition is given in the context of problems with observing the Lord's Supper, but the point is that they were being selfish and not thinking of the meaning or of each other. We must strive to love each other in actions, not just in words. We must worship the Lord in sincere love for Him and for each other for Him to be pleased with our worship.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 135-136 and I Corinthians 12.